2018 Sharkbite

Fun, Family, Friends, and Racing!

For the last three years I have looked forward to the Sharkbite Challenge and Paddlefest held on Honeymoon Island in Dunedin,Florida. This race combines for me, my Florida vacation with a chance to race in the sunshine. Over the past 15 years I have spent part of my vacation in Florida either in Siesta Key, Sarasota or Estero(25 minutes from Naples)with my wife Betsy of 32 years and some part of my immediate or extended family. One of Betsy’s five sisters, (Linda) lives in Estero so that has been our landing spot for many years. Last year my son, Tyler and now wife Jen came down for a few days.This trip, my sister Susanne joined us from Mississippi for a few days and later this week my other sister in-law Susan will join Betsy while I had back to the cold Northeast looking forward to the next race, the Run of the Charles in Boston.

Jen,Tyler,Betsy,Wesley,Linda,Andy, Estero, Florida 2017

One of the reasons I love Florida, like so many other people is yes, the weather. Being from Mississippi, once I acclimate to the heat, I enjoy it. The early morning sunshine, the smell of new day beginning with the dew on the ground, all remind me of my twenty three years I spent growing up in Mississippi or my time I spent in Norfolk, Virginia when I was in the Navy. I also really enjoy the Southern summer evenings about ninety minutes before the sun goes down, a time for reflection of the day and anticipation of yet another sunny day. So I came down a week before the Sharkbite, to enjoy vacation by running, paddling, walking, reading murder mysteries, racing and being with friends and family.

Jan and Wesley headed out the intracoastal, a minute from Jan’s house. Pic by Renata.

What made this trip even better was that I got to paddle twice before the Sharkbite Race with Jan Lupinski who has a house in Naples. Jan has a spare Think Evo 2 for me to paddle, and Jan lives only a short minute from the intracoastal waterway where we put in. So one day we paddled for two hours through the waterway and into the extremely busy Naples Harbor. I did not realize until I looked at the chart and ask Jan, that it is a five mile paddle from his house to get into the actual ocean. We did find plenty waves though, to the point where Jan and I joked “like the Ride The Bull”. The difference was this waves were being made from the high speed motor boats zipping in and out of this extremely busy harbor with total disregard of anything in their way like a couple experienced surfski paddlers. At one point the confluence of the waves of two jet skis and three gorgeous motor boats passing in opposite directions brought smiles to our faces; chaotic, refractory, waves, with us in the middle. Yes, a brief feeling like our race, Ride The Bull. You could spend your entire training paddle playing in all the boat chop with the big caveat; stay out of the channel, and don’t get run over as Jan was acutely aware of since this is his home turf in Florida.

The beauty of this intracoastal waterway is the quaintness, the stillness and and of course it is flat water. I took advantage of the flat water to ask Jan about my stroke. So I practiced my stroke work with 5 minute slow, technique intervals as Jan suggested how to improve my stroke as we paddled along, very helpful! Getting acclimated to the heat for the race was helpful too. I was drained after our two hour paddle in the Florida sunshine. I want to thank Jan and Renata for their hospitality because I so much enjoyed the two paddles Jan and I did.

RACE DAY

I started my morning earlier at 5:45 am driving 2.5 hours from Estero to Dunedin in my rental Hyundai Accent arriving at 8:15 as planned to avoid the major back up at the Honeymoon Island State Park Gate. The park opens up at 8 am. The parking lot was humming with activity already with paddlers unloading their SUP’s, Ocs, and of course skis. This year’s event was consolidated into one day due to the Sunday’s forecast for high winds. So adjustments had to be made for demos, clinics, etc. I quickly found Chris Laughlin, USA Think Distributor and Jan who parked beside each other.

Think Evo 3 Ultimate and Uno Max 3G ready for action.

Jan and Renata had already settled in their paddling van complete with their new awning that Jan assembled the day before. Our race was not to start for a few hours, but I immediately began getting my Evo 3 Ultimate set up that Chris had brought down for me to use. Jan chided me how much time I was taking to get my pedal angle perfect. I had to untie the rudder lines to allow for more line to set my toe pedals. I also attached my hydro pack attachment in the footwell and my lanyard for my paddle leash. I have outfitted so many skis over my 15 years of racing, paddling, and selling them, but it never grows old for me. I enjoy getting a ski set up!

Wesley(14th singles), Chris Laughlin(12th singles), Jan Lupinski(7th single) pre race.

After the set up, I got warmed up, chatted with a few paddlers. One gentleman, identified me, and told me how much he enjoyed my site and asked me a boat question. Always nice to hear positive feedback on the site. The 4 mile race went off first with a few paddlers like Chris Hipgrave(ski) and Reid Hyle(sup) doing both races to get the distance in(Chris) and in Reid’s case, going for the win in the 12-Mile Waterman’s Challenge – Short + Long Races on two different crafts.

Jan warming up pre race and making the rounds.

The Epic Kayaks 8 mile race went off around 11am under excellent conditions for everyone, brilliant sunshine, nice wind on the downwind leg and nice cooling effect on the upwind leg. The course was the typical 2 loop course though was shorter this year to around 6.5 miles. The start is a water start, with all of us trying to hold the line behind the start boat. This can be difficult to day with everyone jockeying for position, trying not to go over or go over the start line.

Start line of Epic Kayaks Sharkbite Challenge, Photo Jay Rose

The horn went off with strokes rates at their max. The lead pack quickly distances itself from the masses including: Nate, Flavio, Ed Joy, Chris Hipgrave, Oscar, Eric Mims, Jan, Randall and Bruce Poacher(Epic Double). Unlike last year where I paddled for the first time the Think Ion 3g in the race, I was able to race the same ski, Evo 3 Ultimate that I use at home. So I was comfortable from the start, however, during the first half mile, I thought, “geez, am I this far back”?, in a sea of paddle craft. The first leg of the 4 leg race was small nice consistent downwind. I was relieved to see by the 1st mile, the pack of 135 paddle craft was separating out and I was feeling better about my position. As I was about a mile from the 1st turn buoy, I noticed that Oscar’s line was the farthest left while most of the masses were to the right of the prospective turn buoy having to angle back toward the buoy. I chose a good outside line wanting a direct line to the buoy. Having already made the 1st turn, Nate Humberston(winner, 48:18) had a sizable lead on the rest of the field, looking effortless.

Nate coming in to the finish with his Win.

The Pic I took of Nate after his win. Ever humble, I had Nate hold up #1 one sign.

Oscar with Chris Hipgrave at last buoy turn.

As I approached the 1st turn I realized Bruce Gipson was a few boat lengths in front of me, so I thought great, let me follow Bruce and see what happens. Shortly after the turn on the upwind leg, I began to close the gap. I suspected Bruce is a far better downwind paddler than I am. Bruce had been paddling surfskis longer than any American I know! However, you can’t race in the Northeast without being a good upwind paddler or grinder. So I thought maybe I can open up a tiny gap on the 2 upwind legs of the race which I did. This was all I needed to be at the front end of a large group of paddlers that were 15-60 seconds behind me. My second downwind lap was slower than the first, however I was able to hold my heart rate at a steady but slightly elevated rate which was good in the heat. On the last leg I was trying to catch the two OC-2 that were ahead of me and hold off the large pack behind me. I ended up 6 of 18 in the 50-59 age group(remember Oscar, Ed Joy, Jan are in this age group to) so I felt I had a very good race. I also finished 22nd overall of 135 paddle craft including skis, double skis, oc1, oc2, sup, etc. So had a good race and it was enjoyable.

Warming up for the race.

Rand Perkins and I after the race. Rand is never too far behind me in the last 2 races.

Flavio holding off Ed Joy for 2nd Place.

Flavio resting after his 2nd place finish.

Tim McMillan in my old SR 2G complete with decal.

Friends from Northeast: Chris Sherwood, Tom Kerr, Nik Miller,Jan,Chris Laughlin.

This race has grown dramatically over the years to include many paddle divisions and under the direction of Karen Tichner and Rob Mirlenbrink. So Thanks to Karen, Rob, the sponsors, and all the volunteers for making this happen for another year! Keep up the great work! Thanks to Jay Rose for use of some of his photos and Val Stepanchuk for all the wonderful photos. Thanks to Chris Laughlin for bringing down the boat for me to use too.